Best of 2018 Print/OOH/Design No. 2: Pee on This Ikea Ad to Find Out if You're Pregnant (and Get a Discount)

'Where Life Happens' Campaign Takes an Intriguing Turn

By

Ann-Christine Diaz

Published On

Jan 09, 2018

Editor's Pick

Through New Year’s on Creativity, we’ll be counting down the best work and ideas of the year in various categories: TV/Film/Branded Content, Print/Out of Home/Design/Experiential and Digital/Integrated/Social.

Our No. 2 entry in print/out of home/design proves how the most basic advertising medium can yield the most delightful surprises. This print ad from Ikea and Swedish agency Akestam Holst doubled as a home pregnancy test. If a woman peed on a small test strip beneath a picture of the brand’s Sundvik crib, a discount would appear if she was pregnant--reflecting the lower price for those enrolled Ikea’s Family Club.

Original Story:

Ikea's done a splendid job of embracing life's realities in its "Where Life Happens" campaign from Akestam Holst, featuring the struggles of folks like a single working mom, divorced parents and more. But the agency's new print ad adds a bit of whimsy to the idea by helping consumers find out if they're moving on to their next big stage--by informing them if they're pregnant.

The ad, which showcases the company's Sundvik crib, encourages viewers to simply pee on a small marked strip on the bottom of the ad. If they're expecting, the price shown on the ad will drop, reflecting the price offered to those in the retailer's Ikea Family club.

Ikea and Akestam Holst worked with med tech lab Mercene Labs on developing the ad, which used enhanced version of the technology used in typical pregnancy test strips.

According to Mercene, its work on the ad may lead to new business oppurtunities. "We had to push ourselves to come up with several clever solutions to make the concept of the ad work in reality," says Jonas Hansson, Head of new opportunities at Mercene Labs. "I think we can use some of the same solutions to help our customers create better products in their areas of life science and medical diagnostics. We will also develop a new substrate material for medical diagnostics based on what we learned in this project."